Pankaj grabs four as Lions crash to 155

Central Zone 270 (Kaif 64, Richardson 4-50) and 23 for 2 v England Lions 155 (Rashid 40, Pankaj 4-35)
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	Pankaj Singh four wickets rattled the England Lions © Getty Images

Pankaj Singh grabbed four wickets as Central Zone shot out England Lions for 155 and gained a healthy 115-run first-innings lead. Central, though, lost two wickets in the seven overs they had to face before stumps on the second day in Vadodara.

In the morning session, Central, resuming from 238 for 7, could only add 32 runs to their first-innings effort before being bowled out. Alan Richardson, the right-arm medium pacer, took two more wickets to be the Lions' most successful bowler with four wickets.

The Lions' batting effort got off to a poor start with Joe Denly, winner of the NBC Denis Compton award for four successive years at Kent, falling to Pankaj, who was part of the Indian squad that toured Australia recently, in the first over. Michael Yardy, the Lions' captain, was Pankaj's next victim, managing only 5. After some brief resistance, both Michael Carberry and Ed Joyce fell in quick succession to leave the Lions at 66 for 4.

Uttar Pradesh's left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta ably assisted Pankaj as the Lions were unable to put together any partnerships of note, tumbling to 120 for 8. It was thanks to No. 7 Adil Rashid's 40 that the visitors managed to post their modest score - their innings ending when Sanjib Sanyal struck twice in the same over. Pankaj finished with 4 for 43 while Gupta had returns of 3 for 32 in 23 overs.